U.S. Urges Congo Leader Not to Run for Third Term

Image

Secretary of State John Kerry with President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa on Sunday. Mr. Kabila has not said whether he will seek to remain in power in 2016.CreditCreditPool photo by

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday publicly urged the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo to respect his nation’s Constitution and not run for another term in 2016.

There has been speculation among the political opposition that President Joseph Kabila, who has been in office since 2001, might seek to have the Constitution amended so that he could run for a third term in office.

“Clearly, the United States believes that a country is strengthened, that people have respect for their nation and their government, when a constitutional process is properly implemented and upheld by that government,” Mr. Kerry said in a news conference here.

“He has an opportunity, which he understands, to be able to put the country on a continued path to democracy,” he added.

It was not clear how hard Mr. Kerry pressed his case in his closed-door meeting Sunday morning with Mr. Kabila at his white marble presidential palace. But Russell D. Feingold, the American special envoy for the region, was more explicit in a briefing for reporters Sunday morning.

“The people of this country have a right to have their Constitution respected,” Mr. Feingold said. “The Constitution here provides for two terms.”

Mr. Kabila had no comment on the American statements and has not said whether he might seek to have the Constitution changed.

Mr. Kerry, who has promoted the importance of democratic values during a swing through Africa, also took up security issues during his meeting with Mr. Kabila.

One of the chief rebel groups that Mr. Kabila has faced, the M23 militia, ordered its fighters to lay down their arms last year after suffering a series of military setbacks and after Rwanda, under pressure from the United States, curtailed its support for the group. A peace agreement was signed in December in Nairobi, Kenya.

But some 2,000 members of the group fled to Rwanda and Uganda. Congo wants them to return so that it can either reintegrate them into the government under an amnesty or put some on trial for war crimes. A senior State Department official traveling with Mr. Kerry asserted that Rwanda and Uganda still supported their return but that Mr. Kabila’s government had been slow to carry out the agreement.

The United States also wants Mr. Kabila to pursue the Allied Democratic Force, a militia that originated in Uganda, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, whose members have been linked to the genocide in Rwanda. The latter group is known as the F.D.L.R., for the initials of its French name.

“The top priority is going after the F.D.L.R.,” Mr. Feingold said. “The planning has been done. But President Kabila needs to give the green light to say it is time to take them on militarily.”

Mr. Kerry said after his meeting with Mr. Kabila that the president had a schedule for launching the offensive, but Mr. Kerry declined to discuss it.

Mr. Kabila became president after his father was assassinated. He was elected in 2006 in a vote that Mr. Feingold said was fair. But the Constitution was changed so that Mr. Kabila could run for a second term five years later.

“Unfortunately, in 2011, it was a different story,” Mr. Feingold added. “The international community witnessed an election that lacked the indices of free, fair and transparent elections, and was largely regarded as flawed, as some people in the country claim it was rigged.”

Mr. Kerry said the United States would contribute $30 million to help Congo hold elections. Much of the money will be provided to nongovernmental organizations, but some $2 million will probably be provided to the nation’s electoral commission.

Mr. Kerry arrived here after visiting Ethiopia and South Sudan. He plans to finish his trip with talks in Angola with President José Eduardo dos Santos.

In a generally upbeat speech on Africa policy on Saturday in Addis Ababa, Mr. Kerry said the conflicts in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo were plunging much of the continent into turmoil and casting a cloud over its economic potential.

Mr. Kerry described the recent kidnapping of schoolgirls by Boko Haram, a Nigerian terrorist group, as an “unconscionable crime” and said the United States would help the Nigerian government “return these young women to their homes.”

A senior State Department official, however, said later that Mr. Kerry had been referring to continuing programs to help Nigeria improve its security organizations and had not suggested that the United States would play a role in operations to find and free the schoolgirls.

Underscoring the political theme he would take up again here, Mr. Kerry said in the speech on Saturday that there would be 15 presidential elections in Africa over the next three years.

“The nations in Africa,” he said, “are strongest when citizens have a say.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Urges Congo Leader Not to Run for Third Term. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe